Being Cranky to Yankee

Lots of folks have been subjected in person to Corporation Counsel John Rose's prickly temperment, from court rooms, to Freedom of Information Commission hearings, to the corridors of city hall.

Turns out he's pretty good at conveying his cranky manner in writing too, as the folks at the Yankee Institute found out when they went looking for information on city employees that they hoped to add to their sunlight project.

Right off the bat they made the mistake of addressing the letter to Lee Erdmann, who is no longer with the city. After questioning the letter-writer's relationship with the Yankee Institute, Rose let's it be known the Erdmann has "not worked for the city for over a year."

Then he tells those nosy folks looking for info relating to municipal employees that neither he nor the mayor's office has any of the documents they seek - one of Rose's go-to denial tools that have gotten him in hot water with the FOI Commission repeatedly - and goes on to call the request "unreasonable and opressively expensive" He also writes that he plans to look into "whether there are grounds to seek court or delcaratory relief from" his friends at the commission.

He finishes up with a couple more jabs, closes with telling them that they should consider his response to be the equivelant of the four-day FOI response letter before inviting them to call him to discuss the matter with him further if they desire.

Here's a guess that when the phone doesn't ring...it's the Yankee Institute.